BEGINNINGS OF INTELLIGENCE 169 



entity is somehow mysteriously injected into the universe. 



It is a general rule that what is pleasant is beneficial and 

 what is painful is injurious, and, therefore, by following 

 its desires and aversions an animal is guided in a tolerably 

 safe course. Eating when hungry, drinking when thirsty, 

 seeking warmth when cold, exercise when in a state of 

 vigor, and rest when fatigued, all bring a state of satisfac- 

 tion or pleasure. On the other hand, eating and drinking 

 after a certain stage of repletion has been reached, or at- 

 taining too great a degree of warmth may be positively 

 painful, the pain being correlated with carrying on these 

 activities until they become injurious to the organism. 



But it is well known that this correlation is not an absolute 

 one. With complex creatures like ourselves with a multitude 

 of different propensities and interests it is not infrequent 

 that the pursuit of what is agreeable leads to all sorts of 

 unfortunate consequences, even of a purely physiological 

 nature. In the lower animals where pleasure is a safer 

 guide than among ourselves, what is pleasant is not always 

 what is organically good. Poisonous articles may be eaten 

 with apparent relish and alcoholic liquors are readily im- 

 bibed even by such primitive creatures as bees and wasps 

 upon their very first acquaintance with these intoxicants. 

 But aside from exceptional cases, pleasure in the animal 

 world is a sufficiently good index of what is beneficial that 

 under conditions which ordinarily present themselves it 

 seldom leads to injurious courses of action. 



The relation between the pleasant and the beneficial is, 

 however, probably not a primary one, and it is not improb- 

 able that it represents a connection established by natural 

 selection, as was first maintained by Herbert Spencer. 



" If the states of consciousness which a creature endeavors 

 to maintain are the correlatives of injurious actions and if 



